[Chap. XXXVm HYBRID SEGREGATION 471 



Long before the processes of fertilization and triple fusion were known 

 in plants, this phenomenon was called xenia, a term that means hospi- 

 tality. It was thought that the white corn, sweet corn, and pop corn 

 were being hospitable to the other kinds of corn — unreciprocated hos- 

 pitality. The Indians who wanted to keep their ceremonial com "pure" 

 looked upon it as contamination. We now know that it is the result of 

 cross-pollination, triple fusion, and the dominance of certain hereditary 

 factors in the endosperm, as indicated in Fig. 214. The pollen grain 

 came from a variety of blue-grained corn; the ovule grew in a variety 

 of white-grained com. 



Fig. 216. Diagram illustrating the results of inheritance in the endosperm follow- 

 ing selfing of a hybrid plant from a seed like seed C in Fig. 214. 



